Healthy Snacks for Your Kids

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One of the main reasons that many of our children are
overweight or obese is directly related to what they eat between
meals. It has been estimated that the average child in the United
States today eats over 30% of his/her total calories each day from
snacks. Many of these snacks have little or no nutrition value and
most have too many calories.

Whether it is the toddler who is bribed or rewarded with offers
of candy and cookies to eat his/her vegetables, or the school-aged
child who often eats large quantities of junk food-type snacks
between meals, or the teenager whose main diet often consists of
fast foods and late night binge-eating, the outcome is the
same. What is happening is that many children are consuming more
calories than they need. The extra calories are “empty” calories
(calories without any nutritional value). If the extra calories
consumed are not burned off either by the individual's metabolism,
or by physical activity, they will be deposited as fat in the
body. As a result, many children becomes overweight or obese
and physically unfit.

The following are some examples of popular unhealthy snacks
and their caloric values:

Orange soda (8 oz): 126 calories

Chocolate popsicle: 106 calories

Potato chips (1 oz): 158 calories

Peanut brittle (1 oz): 125 calories

Coconut cookies (5): 390 calories

Pecan brownies (2 oz): 224 calories

Chocolate chip cookies (5): 250 calories

Ring ding (2 ½ oz): 366 calories

Fruit drink (8 oz): 110 calories

Candy coated chocolate candies (1 oz): 130 calories

If your child becomes accustomed to a daily diet of this kind of
between-meal, high sugar or fat snacks, it will be very difficult
to change his/her unhealthy habits later on.

What can a parent do to change a child’s eating
patterns?

The younger the child is, the easier it is to help him/her
develop healthy eating patterns. Improving the eating habits of a
teenager is much more difficult than a toddler. Nevertheless, it is
very important that you do your best no matter what the age of your
child.

One easy way to provide a child with a healthy
and nutritious diet that does not have an abundance of calories, is
to keep healthy choices in your home. This means keeping only
minimal amounts of less nutritious foods around such as: soft
drinks, cookies, cakes, pastries, potato chips and donuts. Instead
of having these types of foods available for snacks, fill your
refrigerator with fresh fruit and vegetables, low-fat yogurt,
low-fat cheese and unsweetened fruit juices. If your child is used
to having these foods in the house, they will likely be unhappy at
first about the change, but don't back down. You may allow your
children to have less healthy choices on special occasions, and in
limited amounts

Today, childhood obesity is considered to be an
epidemic. A child that is overweight or obese is more likely to
develop chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood
cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Overweight and obesity in
children can also contribute to emotional and psychological
problems. As a parent, it is your responsibility to keep your
children healthy by providing them a healthy environment at home,
as well as other opportunities outside the home for healthy
activities in which to participate. This includes providing healthy
food options, as well as opportunities for them to be active. If
your child is already overweight or obese, it is not too late to
help him/her achieve a healthy weight. You can begin by
simply keeping healthy snacks available between meals. Some
healthy snack ideas are listed below: